Author: Madeline Miller
Published: April 10, 2018 by Little, Brown and Company
Format: Paperback, 393 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Blurb: In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child--neither powerful like her father nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power: the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.
But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or with the mortals she has come to love.
My Opinion: This is one of those rare novels that pulls you in so completely you look up hours later, wondering how you got so swept away. I haven’t been this absorbed in a book in a very long time. Even without a deep background in mythology, I never felt out of my depth. Miller gives just enough context and character history to make the world come alive, but she never drags the story down with encyclopedic detail. It’s myth, yes, but myth told with a modern fictional pulse.
I found myself pausing every now and then to look up a name or a thread, not because the book was confusing, but because I wanted to know more. Those little detours didn’t interrupt the story at all; they made it even richer, like I was wandering through a forgotten maze of history and legend.
And Circe… she’s obviously the beating heart of this novel. A woman shaped by cruelty, isolation, and the whims of gods who treat suffering like sport, yet she refuses to be defined by any of it. You feel every moment with her; the sharp humor, the loneliness, and the flickers of love which feel both fragile and monumental. When she hurts, you hurt. When she laughs, you can’t help but smile. When she makes those impossible choices, you feel the breath catch in your own chest and turn the pages even faster.
Her strength isn’t loud or showy; it’s the kind that builds quietly, page by page, until you realize she’s become something extraordinary. A goddess, yes. A witch, yes. But, also, a woman who claws her way toward her own identity in a world determined to tell her who she should be even when she is letting go of the most important things in her life.
This is absolutely a keeper; the kind of book that earns its place on the shelf. And honestly, I can see a re‑read in the future, just to revisit a fiercely beautiful human journey of a woman who stands alone on her island and still manages to reshape her fate.
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.
But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or with the mortals she has come to love.
My Opinion: This is one of those rare novels that pulls you in so completely you look up hours later, wondering how you got so swept away. I haven’t been this absorbed in a book in a very long time. Even without a deep background in mythology, I never felt out of my depth. Miller gives just enough context and character history to make the world come alive, but she never drags the story down with encyclopedic detail. It’s myth, yes, but myth told with a modern fictional pulse.
I found myself pausing every now and then to look up a name or a thread, not because the book was confusing, but because I wanted to know more. Those little detours didn’t interrupt the story at all; they made it even richer, like I was wandering through a forgotten maze of history and legend.
And Circe… she’s obviously the beating heart of this novel. A woman shaped by cruelty, isolation, and the whims of gods who treat suffering like sport, yet she refuses to be defined by any of it. You feel every moment with her; the sharp humor, the loneliness, and the flickers of love which feel both fragile and monumental. When she hurts, you hurt. When she laughs, you can’t help but smile. When she makes those impossible choices, you feel the breath catch in your own chest and turn the pages even faster.
Her strength isn’t loud or showy; it’s the kind that builds quietly, page by page, until you realize she’s become something extraordinary. A goddess, yes. A witch, yes. But, also, a woman who claws her way toward her own identity in a world determined to tell her who she should be even when she is letting go of the most important things in her life.
This is absolutely a keeper; the kind of book that earns its place on the shelf. And honestly, I can see a re‑read in the future, just to revisit a fiercely beautiful human journey of a woman who stands alone on her island and still manages to reshape her fate.
